Candidates crowd the field for Adkisson's seat

Updated 10:44 pm, Wednesday, January 22, 2014

SAN ANTONIO — Eight candidates are crowding the field in the race to replace Tommy Adkisson as Bexar County commissioner for Precinct 4.

A Democrat, Adkisson has presided for 15 years over the East Side precinct that encompasses 335 square miles, has about 430,000 residents, and includes parts of San Antonio and a dozen other municipalities.

Adkisson is vacating his seat to challenge County Judge Nelson Wolff in the March 4 Democratic primary election.

All eight candidates vying for the post said they would focus, if elected, on infrastructure and public safety instead of high-ticket projects such as the San Pedro Creek redevelopment, expected to cost the county $125 million.

The youngest office-seeker is Gonzalez, 29, the great-nephew of the late Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez and the legislative director for state Rep. Philip Cortez, D-San Antonio.

“I'm not running on a family legacy, but certainly, it's something that sets me apart,” he said, adding that his political pedigree means people expect certain things from him, too.

Broadcast manager Calvert, 33, heads community radio station KROV and sits on the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority. He said the San Pedro Creek improvements are a “vanity project” and thinks officials should focus instead on infrastructure. Calvert did not file a one-page treasurer's form for his campaign before he began raising money, but the issue was resolved with the county elections administrator.

Elizalde, 43, is a civil lawyer who ran for state district judge in 2012. She said she has learned while block-walking that her would-be constituents oppose the downtown streetcar project and are more interested in needs such as streets and drainage.

“Let's get back to the basics,” she said. “This is not rocket science. We need to do better with what we have.”

Guerrero, 47, a member of the San Antonio Independent School District board, said she would like to enhance access to health care in the precinct and create an economic development fund that would leverage funds raised in the precinct's municipalities with county revenue.

“What benefits a Windcrest or a Live Oak or an Elmendorf would benefit the entire region,” Guerrero said. “I think there would be less concern about these core urban projects as long as we balance it with what's going on in other parts of the county.”

McNeil, 55, represented the East Side when she served on the San Antonio City Council and said she knows the area well. She said she'd like to address problems specific to the precinct, which she said has the highest rates in the county of cancer, teen pregnancy, unemployment and diabetes.

“But there's no great health care,” she said. “Health care is key, and we run the largest and the best center in the county.”

Two of the Republican candidates — Wilson and Baxter — are serving as mayors, of Kirby and Windcrest, respectively.

Wilson, 31, became an electrician for CPS Energy immediately after high school. He joined the Kirby City Council in 2005 and was elected mayor in 2012. Wilson, who said he'd resign from his post as mayor if he won the GOP primary, said he was recruited to run by two Democrats but maintains that he is a fiscal conservative.

Baxter, 50, was elected mayor in 2011 and credits himself with creating a pro-business atmosphere in Windcrest.

An advocate of government transparency, Baxter said he wouldn't hold office in the “ivory tower” downtown but instead in Precinct 4, “somewhere you don't have to pay to park.”

Alecozay, 62, said she saved taxpayers millions of dollars as a contract negotiator at Randolph AFB.

A longtime active Republican, she said she has served as a GOP precinct chairwoman and has “helped elect a lot of good Republicans.”

Alecozay said she would like the county to partner with area colleges to bring in more businesses and create more jobs.